The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1887-09-23
TALMAGE's SERMON.
The Tribulations and Rewards OF
True Christian Hospitality.
The Stranger 1t Our Gate To-Day Be-
comes Our Defender Tomorrow
The Hospitality Of the Homo
Beyond the Skies.

comes Our Defender To-Morrow-
The Hospitality Of the Homo
Beyond tho Skies.
Rev. 7. Dewitt TaImage, in his eighth
sermon at 1.-THE Hamptons," took for his
subject Hospitality" from which he de-
.ivered brief but pointed discourse. His
text was:
Given to hospitality-Romans xR. IL
There is danger that the multiplication
81 large and commodious hotels in our
towns and cities and villages will utterly
exterminate that grace which Abraham
| exhibited when he entertained the angels;
and which Lot showed when he watched
Tor guests at the gate of the city; and
which Christ recognized as q positive
requisite for entering Heaven, when he
declared:
| I was a stranger and ye took me in.
| Ipropose to speak this morning of the
trials and rewards of Christian hospitality.
The first trial often comes in the within
aud eccentricity of the guest hims elf.
There are a great many excellent people
who have pro.uberances of disposition,
and sharpe edges of temperament, and
unpliability of character, which make
them a positive nuisance in any house
| where they stay. On short acquaintance,
they will begin to command the house
| held affairs; order the employees to I'M
| usual service; keep unreasonable hours !:
| use narcotics i'm places offensive to sensi-
| tive nostrls: put their feet at unusual
| elevations; drop the ashes of their Havana
| on costly tapestry; open bureaus they
| ought never to touch; and pry into things
| they ought never to see: and become i'm
| pervious to rousing bells: and have all the
| peculiarities of the gSmandizer or the
| dyspeptic: and make excavations from
poor dentistry with unusual implements;
| and in a thousand ways afiiict the house.
hold which proposes to take care OF them.
Added to all, they stay too long. They
have no idea when their welcome is worn
| out, and they would be unmoved even
| by the blessing which my friend, Gerrit
Smith, the philanthropist, asked one morn
| ing at his breakfast table, on the day when
| he hoped that the long pro:racted guests
| would depart, saying: so Lord, bless the
| provision, and our friends who leave US
| to-day"
! But, my friends, there are a'leviations to
! be put on their side of the scale. Perhaps
they have not had the same refining in
| fiuences about them in early life that you
have had. Perhaps they have inherited
| eccentricities that they can not help. Per-
haps it is your duty, by example, to show
them a better way. Perhaps they are
sent to be trial for the development of
your patience. Perhaps they were to be
intended as an illustration of the oppos tie
OF what You are trying to inculcate in the
minds of your children. Perhaps it is to
make your home the brighter when they
are gone. When our guests are CHEEKY,
| and fascinating, and elegant, it is very
easy to entertain them: but when we find
in our guests that which is antagonistic to
! oar taste and sentiment, it is positive
triumph when we can obey the words OF
nv text, and he 'given to hospitality
Another trial in the using of this grace
is in the toll and expense OF exercising it.
In the well-regulated household things 20
smoothly: but now You have introduced a
foreign element into the machinery, and
though you may stoutly declare that they
must take things as they find them, the
Martha will break in. The ungovernable
stove: the ruined dessert: the delayed
marketing: the perplexities of caterer:
the difficulty of doing proper work, and
Yet always being presentahe. Though
You may say there shall be- no care or
anxiety, there will be care. and there will
be anxiety.
In 1874 the Captain-General provided a
very grand entertainment. and among
ether things he had fountain in his gar
den-a fountain of strong drink. In it
were four hogsneads of brandy, eight
ho.ssheais Of water, twenty-five thousand
lemons, thirteen hundred pounds of Lis
bon sugar, five pounds of grated
nutmeg, three hundred toasted bis
cults. and boat. built on purpose, was
placed in the fountain, and boy rowed
around it and filed the cups Of the people
VINO came there to be supplied. Well. you
say. that was a luxurious entertainment,
and of course the man had no anxiety; but
have to tel you that, though you had to
propose an entertainment like that, YOU
have anxiety. In that very thing comes
the divine reward.
We were born to serve: and when we
serve others, we serve God. The flush on that
woman's cheek, as she bends over the hot
stove. is as sacred in Gods sight as the
flush on the cheek of one, who, on q hot
day, breaches the gospel. We may serve
God with plate, and cutlery, and broom,
Il
psaim-book and liturgy. Margaret, Queen
of Norway and Sweden and Denmark, had
royal cup Of ten lips, on which was re.
corded the names OF the guests who had
drunk from this cup. And every
Christian woman has a royal cup, on
watch are written all the names of those
who have ever been entertained by her in
Christian style; names not cut by human
ingenuity, but written by the hand of a
divine Jesus. Bat, my friends, you are
not to toll unneces sarily. Though the fare
be plain, cheerful pr: ;idency of the table,
and cleanliness Of appointments, will be
good enough for anybody that ever comes
to your house. John Howard was invited
TO the house of a nobleman. He said: ~
will come on one condition. and that is
that you have nothing but potatoes on the
table" The requisition was complied
with. Cyrus, King of Persia, under the
same circumstances, prescribed that on
the table there must be moth
ing but Tread. OF course these were
extremes, but they are illustration of
the fact that more depends upon the
banqueters thannpon the banquet. want
to lift this i;.ea of Christian entertainment
GU: of a positive bondage, into a glorious
inducemeut. Every effort you put forth,
and every dollar YOU give to the entertain
ment of friend or foe, you give directly to
Christ. SUPPOSE it were announced that
the Lord Jesus Christ would come to this
place this week, what woman in this
house would not be glad to wash for him:
or spread for him bed, or bake bread for
him: There was one of old who washed
for him, drawing the water from the well
of her own tears. He is coming. He will
be here tomorrow.
inasmuch as ye have done II TO one OF the
| least Of these, E,y brethren, ye have done i: to
| me.